Light grid with detection by adjacent light reception units arranged opposite light transmission units

A method to use a light grid, comprising

• arranging a plurality of light transmission units in a row,
• arranging light reception units opposite the plurality of light transmission units in a row and delivering by the light reception units received signals corresponding to light incidence,
• using beams between the light transmission units and light reception units to define a monitored plane between the plurality of light transmission units and light reception units, wherein a beam comprises those light beams which emanate from an activated light transmission unit and are detected by a light reception unit activated at the same time, wherein the light of each light transmission unit is divergent and also irradiates over at least the next adjacent reception unit beside the oppositely disposed light reception unit for the formation of cross-beams of first order,
• wherein the order corresponds to a relative position of the light transmission units and light reception units with respect to that of oppositely disposed reception units;
• controlling the light transmission units and light reception units by a control and evaluation unit and evaluating the intensity of the light incidence on a light reception unit by the control and evaluation unit,
• wherein the beams or cross-beams are effective beams or effective cross-beams, an effective beam defined in that a part shading of this effective beam effects a measurable intensity change in the associated light receiver corresponding to the shading at each spacing from the light transmission unit, and
• wherein the monitored plane comprises at least one detection zone having a gap-free illumination present in the total detection zone due to the effective beams and the effective cross-beams, the effective beams defining at least one detection zone in the monitored plane, with an illumination by at least one of the effective beams present in the total detection zone, wherein a relationship then results between the part shading of an effective beam and the received signal of the corresponding light receiver;
• and
• determining at least one of the height and the position of objects within the detection zone when the objects are conveyed through the monitored plane based on a positional determination provided by an intersection zone in which effective cross-beams of different orders overlap.